How to Measure your Podcast with Podtrac

Podtrac's Measurement service provides third-party measurement data not available anywhere else and is free to most publishers.

Podtrac Measurement works by redirecting your podcast traffic through a Podtrac server which collects and analyzes information about the download request and then sends it on to where your media file is hosted. The redirect is instantaneous and does not affect delivery of your file.

Important Notes for Users of Popular Platforms:

Libsyn users: If you use Libsyn to host your RSS feed or update your XML file, send Libsyn a note and ask them to begin including the Podtrac Prefix http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/ on all episodes going forward. Libsyn is generally responsive and should add your prefix quickly.

SoundCloud users: To begin using Podtrac Measurement with your SoundCloud feed and to see your stats (including iTunes and other downloads/plays) on your Podtrac dashboard, please go to your SoundCloud dashboard and enable tracking. From the Settings – Content page on your SoundCloud dashboard, the prompt says: Stats service URL prefix. Please enter: http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/ All other links to episodes must also include the Podtrac prefix (on your site, for example).

Squarespace users: Squarespace does not have direct support for the Podtrac Pefix, but they can still be used together.

Create a "hidden" page in the Not Linked portion of your Squarespace site that you'll use to upload all of your audio files for your podcast.

Upload your mp3 to an audio block on the hidden page. Go to the "Design" tab of the audio block and make sure that "Show Download Link" is checked.

Once the file has uploaded, save the audio block, and save the page.

Look at the new audio block and right click on the "Download" link on the audio player. Select "Copy link address" from the pop-up menu.

Paste that link into Notepad and add Podtrac's redirect. Copy the new link. It should look something like this:https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/static1.squarespace.com/static/57f149993f56fd6ffa27d4bd/t/f56d7207be585a8d74ea8165/1519219946983/example.mp3/original/example.mp3

Create a new blog post for your podcast episode and add the audio block. In the "Embed" tab of the audio block there are two tabs right below the field for Author/Artist. One tab is "Upload File" the other is "External File". Click the "External File" tab. Paste the download URL (with the Podtrac redirect) into the field "Audio File URL". Make sure you select "audio/mpeg (.mp3)" in the "Audio File Mime Type" field, and enter the file size, as those are a required attributes for your RSS feed. Save the audio block.

PodPress users: Podpress has been discontinued, so we reccommend that you move to another solution that is more current and secure. If you still use PodPress to generate your RSS feed, please note that the built-in Podtrac support in certain versions doesn't work correctly because PodPress hides the episode URLs. If the Podtrac Prefix doesn't actually appear in your feed as described above, then your episodes won't show up on your reports. The best solution in this case is to disable PodPress's automatic Podtrac support and insert the Podtrac Prefixes yourself after the feed is generated.

BluBrry users: If your feed is hosted on blubrry.com please use the PowerPress instructions. Otherwise if you email your BluBrry support contact, they can enable support through their site. Just make the request and they can insert the Podtrac Prefix into the URLs automatically at their end.

PowerPress users:

In PowerPress > Settings make sure you are in advanced mode.

Go to the services and stats tab.

Where it says "Redirect URL 1" If there is a blubrry URL in there already, click "add another redirect" and put the Podtrac URL in "Redirect URL 2" otherwise, paste in the Podtrac redirect in Redirect URL 1.

Save settings.

PodBean users: PodBean does not support third party measurement prefixes. The best option for gathering measurement is either to use the Podtrac Feed Mirroring Service and register that feed in iTunes or to switch to another host such as SoundCloud or Libsyn.

Podtrac Feed Mirroring Service: If you do not have control over your RSS feed in the ability to edit your episode file links with the Podtrac Prefix, use Podtrac's Feed Mirroring Service, and we will apply the Podtrac Prefix automatically for you.

More Important Notes:

Podtrac updates the Measurement reports daily based on the previous day's activity. Totals for a given day are typically available by noon on the following day.

The privacy of data collected about your podcast is important to us. Podtrac will only share data linked to the name or the RSS of your podcast with verified advertisers. Podtrac may also provide summary data to third parties For more information, please review our full Privacy Policy available on your Publisher Dashboard when logged into Podtrac.

Please contact us if you need help with any of these three steps. We'll email you back with an answer or set up a time to talk.